Sergei Alexander Bobinsky
This article is an Incomplete Article, it requires editors to improve it. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky is Coraline's Russian neighbor who lives in the upstairs apartment of the the Pink Palace Apartments. He owns a jumping mice circus. Coraline assumes he is crazy and Mel Jones believes that he's a drunk. Other Bobinsky The Other Bobinky is the "other" version of Mr. Bobinsky in the real world, though much neater than the real one; less of a gut, a more prigmented skin color, buttons for eyes, and a much neater mustache, and also wears a navy blue ringmaster's suit complete with gold trimmings and his liquidator badge. Like the real Mr. Bobinsky, he also owns a mouse circus but the mice are actually rats disguised as jumping mice. Once the Other Mother transforms all the residents of her Other World, he is reduced to nothing but a suit filled with his performing rats and an artificial, robot-like voice being replicated by the them. This is the scene where most viewers get "freaked out". When Coraline lifted his hat off, the head rat attempted to escape with the eye of one of the ghost children, otherwise the circus ball, only to be caught by the Cat. The Cat kills the rat that has the ghost eye and passes the Circus Ball over to Coraline in the front lawn of the Other Pink Palace. Plot Appearance Movie : An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (filmography) He gives her a beet and claims that it'll make her strong. Mel Jones believes him to be drunk, and Coraline instead believes him crazy when he mentions his mouse circus, but later calls him eccentric instead. He first appears just after the beginning of the film, performing exercises on the roof of the Pink Palace as Coraline's family and their moving van arrive to move in. Two days later, a mail mix-up forces Coraline to take his mail (containing strong-smelling cheese) up to his flat's door, where she meets Mr. B. in person and he gives her a "message" from his mice. He then appears at the end of the movie, sneakily uprooting some tulips, muttering To himself, planting more of his beets in place of the tulips, with another message from the mice. Books : An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (books) This section requires expanding with knowledge derived from the books. Video Game : An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (video game) In Coraline's adventurous video game he was seen in the second night, where he popped out from a round pyramid. In the second night, he was seen next to his little circus and somehow shaking. In the circus, he was waiting for Coraline to come in, as he was kneeling on some cheeses. Appearance Mr. Bobinsky is a blue-skinned, extremely tall, Russian man; while not explained in the film, his blue skin is due to his constant time outside in the damp and cold weather. Despite his mostly blue complexion, his nose and chin are tinted violet. His body shape is inconsistent; while he is tall and mostly skinny, he has a noticeably large stomach, which jiggles and bounces when he moves. His body is also disproportionate, as his eyes and mouth are much smaller than the other aspects of his face. In addition, he wears a white, orange stained wife-beater tank top, shorts, and black marching boots. He has a long, untamed moustache, hairy shoulders and armpits, bushy eyebrows, and a hairy area below the navel. He also looks very unhealthy, with the unkempt hair, bloodshot eyes and saggy eyelids. However, his extremely long limbs and sickly complexion hide surprising strength and grace, as Mr. B can easily perform strenuous acrobatic feats such as a one-armed handstand, cartwheels, and safely land from a 10-20 foot jump. Personality Just like Coraline later says, Mr. Bobinsky is more eccentric instead of crazy. He is bold and truthful with his words, quite ignorant of what people would think of him when he says such things. He is always positive, generous and kind, despite a little bit north of normal. Mr. Bobinsky seems to love his exercise, as, every time he appears, he is constantly performing acrobatics or warmups. As such, he is rarely sitting or standing still. When he is first seen on-screen, he is atop the Pink Palace doing varied warmups. He also seems to have a loose grasp on English, using Russian words for things like "mice" and " new cheese" before repeating himself in English. His sentences, while clear enough in English, are somewhat watered down. Quotes These quotes are all said in chronological order. Quotes from the real counterpart *''"And I am the amazing Bobinsky! But you call me Mister B. Because, amazing, I already know that I am."'' *'"You see, Caroline, the problem is...my new songs go oompah, oompah, but the jumping mice play only toodle-toot, like that. Is nice, but not so much amazing. So now, I switch to stronger cheese and soon, watch out!" *''"Have beet, make you strong."'' *''"Do svidaniya, Caroline."'' *''"Podozhdite–wait! The mice asked me to give you message." Coraline: "The jumping mice?" "They are saying...do not go through little door. Do you know such a thing?" 'Coraline:' "The one behind the wallpaper? But it's all bricked up." "Bah. So sorry. Is nothing. Sometimes the mice are little mixed-up. They even get your name wrong, you know? They call you Coraline instead of Caroline. Not Caroline at all! Maybe I work them too hard." *"mice tell me that you are savior, Caroline. And soon as they are ready, they wish to give special thanks you performance."" Quotes from the Other counterpart *"Hello, Carolmushka!"'' *''"Nothing's changed, little girl. And what if you do everything you swore you would? What then? '' *''Nothing's changed. You'll go home. You'll be bored. You'll be ignored. No one will listen to you, not really listen to you. You're too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don't even get your name right. Stay here with us."'' *''"Every meal will be a thing for joy. Nothing will pass your lips that does not entirely delight you."'' *''"Frogs, ducks, rhinos, octopuses — whatever you desire. The world will be built new for you every morning. If you stay here, you can have whatever you want."'' Trivia * Mr. Bobinsky's original character in the book is Mr. Bobo and he trains mice to play music instead of a circus like in the movie. * The flag that he has hanging in front of his flat is the Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation. * He is the only character in the movie to have an abnormal skin color. ** Despite being "healthier" than the real Mr. Bobinsky, the Other Bobinsky still has an abnormal skin color. * In the book, Mr. Bobinsky is not said to have blue skin. * Other Mr. Bobinsky is the deuteragonist, in the film. * Mr. Bobinsky and the Other Mr. Bobinsky]] seem to argue in the movie banner ad. * Mr. Bobinsky is wearing the liquidator medal which reads on the front "Participant in the clean-up campaign". The central detail of the medal is a drop of blood with three lines, each representing the type of radiation: Alpha (α), Beta (β) and Gamma (γ). The "ЧAЭC" indicates "Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant". This medal is a unique real life medal as it is the only medal in the world awarded for participation in a nuclear clean up. That might explain his skin complexion and odd behavior (eating raw beets, etc.) This would also imply that Mr. B. must have immigrated to the United States from living in the Soviet Union, that, and his somewhat loose English. *This may also mean that Mr. Bobinsky may have helped clean up the town of Pripyat after The Chernobyl disaster. * Henry Selick explains that Mr. Bobinsky's skin is blue because he's outside all the time, in the cold and damp weather, wearing only a sleeveless shirt and short pants. And the cold causes his skin to become blue. * Mr. Bobinsky's voice is the first to be heard in the film, and he is the second character to appear (the first being the Other Mother, although not fully revealed). * It is claimed by Mel Jones that Mr. Bobinsky is drunk, but given his impeccable balance and dexterity in terms of acrobatics, it is certainly more likely that he is simply very eccentric, as alcohol impairs fine motor skills and balance. * "Do svidaniya (До свиданья)" means "Till (the next) meeting", basically "Until we meet again." * In the film, Mr. Bobinsky narrowly escaped accidental castration at the hands of Coraline. When jumping down onto her from his balcony, she ducks down and tries to shield her head with her hands, inadvertently pointing her sharp garden shears straight up. When Mr. B. lands on his feet, he's left standing over her, the shear blades less than an inch from his groin. Of course, he pretends to not notice. * Mr. Bobinsky claims that the mice give him messages to say to Coraline, although animals cannot talk in the Real World. * When first introduced, he counts in Russian, but when Coraline's parents honk the horn of their bug, he almost loses his balance, and curses at them in Russian. * Mr. Bobinsky's middle name should be "Alexandrovich" rather than just "Alexander", since Russians have patronymics as their middle names, derived from their father's first name. * Mr. Bobinsky is voiced by Ian McShane, who also voiced Tai Lung in the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda.' Gallery Sergei!.jpg Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Incomplete Article